I've spent some time fishing with my uncle Lowell this past month. We've been hitting his favorite trout spots in Greenbrier, Pocahontas, and Nicholas Counties. We tried our luck a couple of times at Knapps and Anthony Creek. There is some really interesting geology in that area with a most notable stop called the Devil's Backbone. Our best day was on the Cranberry River where I limited out in one hole in under 20 minutes. It was an awesome mix of Rainbow, Brook, and Brown trout; the first Browns I had caught in a few years. We tried again the next day on Knapps Creek and the Williams River but were flooded out due to an intense thunderstorm that hit the area the night before. It's one of the most scenic places I've ever been. We drive up into the high country, where on a clear day you can see for what seems like a hundred miles. Lowell explained to me how the Red Spruce trees grow up there and how they only survive in the higher elevations. They seem to be as environmentally finicky as the trout we were after. Once you reach the peak of the mountain the trees become more stunted and the limbs only grow thick on one side, due to the high winds and cold weather. We turned our attention south on one trip to Potts Creek near Virginia and caught several trout, finishing up the trip with a respectable meal at the Swinging Bridge restaurant in Paint Bank, VA where they server up buffalo meat.
